Eldership (from the elders ) in Orthodoxy is a type of monastic activity associated with spiritual leadership. As Bishop Savva (Mikheev) noted: “The very concept of“ old man ”is not tied to any dignity - neither priestly nor bishop's . The concept of “elder” in the general sense of the word means - a person wise by spiritual experience ” [1]
Description
Spiritual mentoring is carried out by a special person - an old man (usually a priest-monk) over other monks who live with him in the same monastery; and more rarely, mentoring is carried out on the laity coming to the elder.
Mentoring is carried out in the form of conversations and advice given by an old man to people who come to him.
The term “elder” has a different, commonly used meaning in dictionaries, for example, in the Dahl dictionary: “an elder is an elderly man, very old, an old man of old people”. In the same dictionary: “The old cathedral is a member of the monastery cathedral or council. Ordinary old man is a simple, non-duty monk ” [2] . The position of the cathedral elder has been known since at least the sixteenth century; in 1530 Tikhon Zvorykin held this position in the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery , which oversaw Maxim the Greek , exiled to the Joseph Monastery, and then Vassian Patrikeev [3] . The position of the cathedral elder existed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the middle of the 17th century. She, for example, was occupied by Anthony (Radivilovsky) [4] .
The term "eldership" is mainly referred to the practice of spiritual mentoring and leadership, cultivated by students and followers of the Monk Paisiy Nyametsky in Russian monasteries of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Old age in Russia began to be practiced in the 1800s in the Beloberezhsky desert near Bryansk and was further widely developed in many monasteries, especially in the Vvedensky Optina desert ( Kaluga diocese ).
An old woman is an elderly Orthodox nun or a religious elderly woman of a non-monastic rank, who is respected and respected for her ascetic life.
In modern convents, old age is not developed. [five]
A significant difference in the position of the old man and the old woman is that the first one can have a holy dignity, and therefore serve not only in one word, but also to purify the soul of those who come to him with the sacrament of repentance, which is very important, because sometimes people come to him who are embarrassed by grave sins. Therefore, it is necessary that the elder could not only forgive and reassure, but also allow sins of embarrassed conscience by the sacrament of repentance .
It’s extremely rare that the term “elder” is used by individuals to refer to old or experienced priests — not monks who exercise spiritual guidance in the ward. For example, Elder John of Kronstadt , Elder Alexei Mechev .
The phenomenon of experienced spiritual mentoring is very, very rare, and such leadership is carried out over people well known to the old man, it cannot be carried out over random people.
The most common and very common phenomenon is false eldership, in which good advice from a true elder is replaced by blind and reckless obedience to a false elder, who considers his opinion unmistakable and requires unconditional obedience from the laity. Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote about false eldership: “Those elders who take on the“ role ”will use this unpleasant word that belongs to the pagan world, to more accurately explain the case, which, in essence, is nothing but a harmful act and a sad comedy, - elders who assume the role of ancient holy elders without their spiritual gifts, but know that their very intention, their very thoughts and concepts about great monastic work - obedience are false, that their very way of thinking, their mind, their knowledge is self-seduction devilish charm that can not fail to give an appropriate Statement fetus instruct them [6] . "
Famous Elders
- See Category: Elders
Notes
- ↑ Elder Bishop // Blagovest newspaper, September 2, 2016
- ↑ Old // Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language : in 4 volumes / auth. V.I. Dahl . - 2nd ed. - SPb. : Printing house of M.O. Wolf , 1880-1882.
- ↑ Elena Vasilieva, archivist of the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery . Tsar’s godfather (“The Great Elder” Cassian Bosoy).
- ↑ Anthony (Radivilovsky) Orthodox Encyclopedia
- ↑ Hegumen Seraphim (Kuznetsov) . Women's monastic charters
- ↑ St. Ignatius Brianchaninov . An offering to modern monasticism. Advice on spiritual monastic work. Part 2, ch. 13, ch. 12. About living in obedience to an old man
Literature
- Rudenskaya T.V. Russian eldership as a spiritual phenomenon of Orthodoxy // Bulletin of the Orenburg State University. - 2011. - No. 120. - S. 15-20.
- Great Elders of the 20th Century / comp. S. S. Devyatova . - M.: Artos-Media, 2010.